Councillor Pat Hackett informed that the last year had been a great experience but a bag of mixed emotions at times.  Councillor Hackett was proud to have been Leader of a Cabinet and Council that had grown so much in a short time. He believed he had been part of something special.  He had been privileged to work alongside so many ambitious individuals, leading a strong workforce to achieve collective goals and ultimately make massive strides in the Council’s vision for the borough.

Councillor Hackett reported that during the past few months the Council had been dealing with a crisis never encountered before.  How people lived and worked had been completely turned upside down.  Faced with unprecedented challenges and pressures placed on the Council to protect and support the local community, like never before, he had watched the Council, its fantastic workforce and all Members of the Council overcome every barrier, make quick difficult decisions, and come together to lead the Council through on of the most difficult periods this country had seen since World War II.  The way the workforce had adapted was beyond what it had been thought could happen and officers had been rightly praised for the quick turnaround to help local residents from March 2020 onwards, rightly winning plaudits as the first in the country on so many fronts.  Councillor Hackett informed that the Cabinet sent out its sincere thanks to all the workforce as Wirral had, undoubtedly, led the way.

Councillor Hackett then introduced an eight-minute video presentation on the Council and Cabinet’s achievements over the last extraordinary year. He also took the opportunity, at this last meeting of the Cabinet, to thank each of the Cabinet Members in turn along with the staff for their hard work during the last year.  Councillor Hackett provided a summary of each of the following projects and initiatives:

·  The Local Plan which would shape the borough for years to come.

·  Replacing the boroughs Street Lights with energy efficient LED Lights.

·  The Community Bank – North West Mutual Ltd.

·  Keeping Wirral Green, a plan to tackle climate change.

·  Wirral’s evolving Cycling and Walking Infrastructure and Active Travel.

·  Major Regeneration for Wirral.

·  Affordable Living and Housing – High Quality New Homes.

·  A Borough of Tourism and Culture.

·  Support for Care, including funding made available.

·  Real Living Wage including seeking accreditation.

·  Support for Children and Young People - putting them at the centre of every decision made.

·  Covid-19 – Feeding, Supporting and Protecting Wirral Residents.

Finally, Councillor Hackett informed that as the Council, cautiously, moved to some sort of business as usual it would have regard to what had been learnt and would use it to continue to build a Council that Wirral businesses and residents could be proud of and trust, working first and foremost for the residents of the borough.  It would be a Council built on community. 

Following the presentation each Cabinet Member took the opportunity to thank the officers for putting the presentation together, other Cabinet Members and Chief Officers and their Teams for the work they had done and their significant achievements against a very difficult backdrop of the covid-19 crisis.

Each Cabinet Member individually also paid tribute to Councillor Hackett, as Leader of the Council, thanking him for his leadership, his experience and advice, the atmosphere of optimism and collaboration and for delaying his retirement to assist with the crisis which had been very challenging.  Councillor Hackett was wished health and happiness and a very long, fulfilling retirement and was told he would be missed by his colleagues, officers, ward residents and everyone he had helped in New Brighton, the wider Wirral area and the Liverpool City Region.

Councillor Hackett thanked the Cabinet Members for their nice comments and closed the meeting.